Month: November 2017

Alex Smith is looking like he has a few seasons of top play left for Kansas City. Mahomes is looking at a longer-than-expected wait to be a starter. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are in win Super Bowl now mode and don’t have all the defensive parts especially with safety Eric Berry lost for the season to get the job done.

Sending Mahomes to Carson Palmer-less Arizona to get Larry Fitzgerald and put the offense over the top would be great, but there’s no chance of that because of Fitzgerald’s no-trade clause and the Chiefs’ limited cap space. So the Chiefs should consider moving unknown offense later for defensive help now, instead.

Nothing went well, said Fitzgerald, who caught three passes for 29 yards. The intensity wasn’t there. The urgency you need to beat good teams just wasn’t there.

Now Drew Stanton takes over for the next game, at San Francisco a week from Sunday. Coincidentally, Stanton was the quarterback in a 33-21 victory in San Francisco last season because Palmer was out with a concussion.

After that is a Thursday night home game against Seattle.

Arizona’s victories have come, barely, over Indianapolis, San Francisco and Tampa Bay, a team the Cardinals led 31-0 before the Buccaneers rallied in a 38-33 loss. Those three teams have a combined record of 4-16.

When things go wrong for the Cardinals, there’s been little fight back.

I think our team right now doesn’t overcome bad things very well, Arians said. If there’s one thing I can say about our team is – and I hate to say we’re kind of front runners.

Around The NFL staff: We’re assuming a trade with San Francisco to bring back Kyle Shanahan is out of the cards (sorry, Falcons fans). With the offense still struggling, Dan Quinn’s defense must pick up the slack. It’s not the biggest need, but adding a physical corner like the Colts’ Davis could transform Atlanta’s defense. He’s an upgrade over Robert Alford on the outside. Becoming stickier on the back end would help elevate Quinn’s pass rush. With the Colts headed down the tube and Davis about to hit free agency, it shouldn’t cost a ton to pry him away from Indy.

Reid said Thursday that to his knowledge there is no such meeting scheduled.

There’s question marks around that because, as far as I know, there is no meeting, the San Francisco 49ers veteran said. That’s coming from my group message with the NFL players who were at the first meeting. So there is no meeting, as far as I know.

That was paradise compared to what they’re dealing with now.

Palmer is now staring down the barrel of his 38th birthday and is expected to be out at least eight weeks with a broken arm. Stanton, the replacement again, is older, too. So is Larry Fitzgerald. The defense isn’t what it was back then. David Johnson is out injured, too. The adrenaline of Adrian Peterson’s arrival either disappeared or was lost in customs while crossing the Atlantic.

The 33-0 beatdown by the Rams at Twickhenham Stadium was horrific. So was the moment Palmer suffered a broken left (non-throwing) arm. But worst of all, the thread of hope that they could overcome age and injury snapped.

I asked for a two-piece with a biscuit, she said. They looked at me and said, ‘a biscuit?’ They had to get their manager out. That’s when I knew I had to get Bisquick shipped over. The tiniest bit can make a big difference. It did even for me. I was a little hungry on that [planning] trip.

Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston, with his status somewhat in doubt because of a shoulder injury, continued his statistically productive season with 384 yards passing and three touchdowns against the Bills. Most of Tampa Bay’s woes have shown up on defense.

The Bucs have only seven sacks in six games and their rate of 3.2 percent on sacks per pass attempt is last in the NFL. Tampa Bay ranks 31st in third-down conversion percentage, 30th in pass defense, 30th in total defense and 29th in points allowed at 25.2 per game.

The Raiders desperately need this win to stay not only in the AFC West race, but also the playoff chase as a whole. Falling to 2-5 would be an impossible hole, so the Raiders need to dig deep with Derek Carr and rise to the Chiefs’ challenge. A short week with a long road trip will be tough for Kansas City, and it’s a great chance for Oakland to exact some TNF revenge. The Chiefs drop two in a row as Carr comes through with a familiar game-winning drive to out-duel Alex Smith.

Brate leads all tight ends this season in vertical receptions (11 catches on aerials thrown 11 or more yards downfield) and vertical touchdowns (3). The Panthers have allowed four touchdowns to tight ends over the past three weeks, so Brate should have a very good chance of hitting pay dirt this week and more than justify his relatively low cost. — KC Joyner